Russia’s war against #Ukraine initially obscured tensions within the Russian #elite but then exacerbated them. Both the Rector of the Russian Presidential Academy of National #Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), Vladimir Mau, and three influential police generals from #StPetersburg have recently come under criminal investigation. An influential businessman from Vladimir #Putin’s entourage, Yevgeny #Prigozhin, harshly criticised St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov, although such a situation had been impossible earlier due to unspoken rules within the power vertical. Prior to that, the Secretary of the General Council of United Russia, Andrey Turchak, and the Chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, had argued in public. Conflicts among high-profile politicians and the siloviki are a sign of the collapse of the old system and its body of laws and rules. The elite are fumbling around in search of the outlines of an emerging new order, and it is already clear that the creation of such an order will be preceded by inter-elite #war|s and #repression|s.

https://ridl.io/playing-by-new-rules/ #russia #fsb #wagner #syria #donbas #society